Great White Horse
by Phantom Creedy Lover
Summary: Dear Frankie!AU. For years, Emma has kept up a lie in order to protect Henry from his father. When Emma finds out that Neal is out of prison, she takes Henry and moves in with her family in Storybrooke to keep him from Henry. When Henry thinks his father may come to town, Emma has to hire a man to play Neal so Henry doesn't get hurt. That man ends up being one Killian Jones.


**A/N: I thought of this at about four in the morning when I couldn't sleep and the worm wouldn't leave, so here it is. Also, having seen Dear Frankie would probably help getting this fic, but you don't need to know it. If you haven't seen it though, you should because the movie's flawless. Also, Mary-Margaret is Emma's older sister in this to make it flow a little better. Anyways, moving on. I don't own anything you recognize, blah blah blah.**

**Bigger, better summary: Captain Swan Dear Frankie!AU. For years, Emma has kept up a lie in order to protect Henry from his father. When Emma finds out that Neal is getting out of prison, she takes Henry and moves in with her sister and brother-in-law in Storybrooke to keep him from Henry. However, when Henry assumes his father is Storybrooke thanks to a classmate, Emma has to hire a man to play Neal so Henry doesn't get hurt. That man comes in the form of one Killian Jones, who is less than the perfect image of a father. She risks it, but of course, quite a lot of her plan backfires.**

* * *

Emma Swan had always considered herself lucky. Despite all the odds she had faced, her life had gone relatively well. She had a great family, with loving foster parents, a beautiful, caring sister and the best son a mother could ask for. But, even if she was lucky, she still remained quite protective of that, which was what had them packing up everything into a moving van that day.

Emma had found out that her ex-boyfriend Neal was getting out of prison, and she was on a mission to prevent him from finding them. It wasn't that Neal was a bad person, but he had hurt her far too deeply the last time by throwing her to the dogs when she was in legal trouble. He didn't even know that Henry existed, and she wanted to keep it that way.

That, of course, was what had caused the lie she only felt moderately bad about. She didn't want Henry to know her ex was a thief, like she had been during her childhood, so she came up with the idea that he worked for some touring boat company, and in a moment of desperation, had come up with the name of the boat, the Jolly Roger. She hated how cliché it was, but Henry never questioned it and had taken to sending emails or letters to the address that the tour company was at, which Emma intercepted each time. She wished that he would stop one day, grow out of it so she could stop lying, but he didn't, and she had slowly realized she didn't want him to because she got to hear him as excited over things as he got all over again.

And so after word that Neal's prison was closing at the prisoners who were coming to the end of their stay were being released, she ran, and her sister Mary Margaret offered for them to stay with her and her husband, David in Storybrooke for as long as needed.

It was a risk, but Emma had accepted. Her sisrer and brother-in-law were the best people she knew. Once upon a time they had all had a good laugh, being that Mary Margaret's childhood nickname had been 'Snow' for her love of the cartoon all those years ago and her dressing up as her every year, and then she went out and found herself a man with the last name of Charming. David had said those facts were what had sealed the deal, and none of them could be happier. It had worried Emma that four people under one roof would get old and tense fast, but David merely waved her off and said it was fine.

So there they were, moving into the two spare rooms in the fixer-upper that Mary-Margaret and David had. Emma had unpacked the small amount of things she had brought and stopped into Henry's room, watching the boy unpack while simultaneously already figuring out how to rearrange the furniture in it. He had been at it a couple of hours and already looked exhausted, so she went in and ruffled his hair. "Hey, kid, I saw there was a diner with a bed and breakfast a couple of doors down. Why don't you go see how the vacancies are just in case these guys need some space and I'll see if I can scrounge up some iced tea and cookies,"

"Make it milk and cookies and you have a deal," Henry replied with a teasing smile.

"You got it," Emma replied.

Henry beamed, then hurried out of the room. "Be back soon!"

" 'Kay!" Emma called after him.

* * *

When Henry walked into the diner, he couldn't help but smile immediately. It was styled like a fifties diner like all of the paintings and photos he had liked to look at. Sure, most were like that those days, but it didn't stop him from liking them.

"Hey, Cutie! Can I help you?"

Henry looked over and smiled at the tall young woman standing a few feet away. She had bright blue eyes, red streaks scattered in her hair, and a smile that showed all of her teeth, but it somehow made her look all the friendlier. He liked her immediately, going over to scoot onto one of the stools in front of her. "Hi! I'm Henry!"

"Ruby. So, you want anything?"

Henry smiled and looked at all of the sweets in the window in front of him. "Maybe later, but right now I've got a question. My mom and I just moved here with my aunt and my uncle, and since it's a small house my mom wanted to know how your vacancies are in case they want alone time."

"And how old are you?"

The pair turned to see an old woman coming out from the back room.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Grams, please, he's like, nine, and look at him. He's not looking for trouble and he looks to smart to be fooled into asking about something that would lead to trouble for someone else," Ruby pointed out, and when Henry offered a thankful smile, Ruby winked at him.

"Well, I'd still like someone of age to do the asking," Grams countered.

"Then clearly you didn't hear the part about his mom," Ruby shot back without looking at her.

"The point still stands. I don't want any shenanigans of any sort. He can get his mom," Grams replied before leaving.

Ruby rolled her eyes again and then leaned on the counter. "Sorry, she's not gonna quit until she wins, so, yeah, mom or no deal, even with just getting the information," she replied.

"No problem. I'll get her, then," Henry replied.

Ruby smiled, then sighed and reached over to the basket of cookies beside them and held it out to him. "It's on the house for your trouble- and being nice to her."

Henry grinned and took one. "Awesome! Thank you!" He scooted off the seat and headed out. "My mom will be back soon, promise!" he waved as he disappeared around the corner, pleased when Ruby waved back the whole time.

* * *

When Emma arrived at Granny's nearly an hour later, she slid onto the same stool Henry had without a word.

Ruby finished with one of the customers at the table nearest them and hurried over. "Hey, you're a new face. Want anything?"

"Uh, no, not food-wise. See, my son was in here a little while ago asking-"

"About vacancies?" Ruby asked, and when Emma nodded, she raised her eyebrows. "… But you're so young!" she blurted, and blushed immediately, more so when Emma frowned. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I just don't know how to stop," she replied.

"It's fine. It beats 'Really', 'He can't be yours', or 'So is the father in jail or in the army or did he leave you?'" Emma replied, then nodded when Ruby flinched in sympathy. "Yeah. So, anyway, do you guys get many people around here?"

Ruby shrugged. "Not really, so there's probably always gonna be room if you need it. Also, I'm really sorry my Grams had you come here just for that. Really, she's too old fashioned. I would've told your kid.."

"It's fine. I'm getting a lay of the land here," Emma replied dismissively. "So, do you know about any job openings around here?"

Ruby leaned on the counter again. "Well, we need another waitress, but… what's your skill set, because there's always a bunch,"

"Finding people, mostly. I was a bondsman, bounty hunter, a lof of law enforcement stuff," Emma replied.

Ruby grinned. "Then you should totally go after the deputy job down at the police station."

Emma paused, then laughed. "Oh, deputy? I don't think I have that it me,"

Ruby laughed. "You don't? Look at you, you're hot but you look like you could kill a man with a finger. It's totally you,"

Emma raised her eyebrows, then joined in the laughter. "How long has it been open?"

"Really short. Like I said, you'll probably do fine. Besides, it's worth it for what you see on a daily basis there," Ruby replied.

"What? Like, do you guys have a bunch of weird crimes?"

"Well, that and the Sheriff's quite the looker," Ruby replied, then after a moment she took one of the lists off her writing pad and scribbled down a phone number and slid it over to her. "There. That's the number you want to call. Don't ask how I know it by heart. Ask for Graham, and you should be all set."

Emma glanced at the paper and then nodded. "Thank you,"

"Mm hm. You sure you don't want anything, or do you want to get back to getting settled in?"

"I really should get back."

"Alright, well, welcome to Storybrooke, tell the kid I said the same thing, and if you have any more questions, come to me!"

"Will do."


End file.
